Audio loggers are known devices that are used for the purpose of preserving records of voice communication on a medium such as a tape. They have particular use in police stations, hospitals, prisons, brokerage houses and other locations where there is a need to record a message or conversation and the time and date thereof. The tapes upon which audio is written are stored for archival purposes should the need arise to retrieve a message.
Recently, digital loggers that use digital audio tapes (DAT's) have become commercially available. As with any other recording medium used in a logger, or similar device, a scheme must be provided for the purpose of retrieving audio from the DAT in a reliable and fast manner. Unless there is a scheme whereby the location of audio that was recorded at a selected time can be determined on the tape, the entire tape must be played to retrieve the audio. In the past, schemes have been provided wherein a medium is played at high speed and upon the detection of the audio, the tape is operated at normal speed and the audio is played back. Although this scheme works well, it does require that the medium be scanned, thereby consuming an unnecessary amount of time. In addition, prior schemes did not provide a satisfactory manner for finding the presence of a message corresponding to the particular time the message was recorded.